Caln files suit against Dewey Homes

CALN – Township Engineer Jeff McClintock announced that the township has filed a court case against Dewey Homes at Thursday night’s Board of Commissioners meeting.

This action comes as the newest chapter in the Kings Grant saga which saw the township send a letter requesting Dewey finish work on curbs, sidewalks, and roads last month and a letter requesting they pay back the nearly $100,000 owed to the township the month before. Dewey did not reply to either of these letters.

McClintock said that the township is pursuing the completion of Dewey’s intended public works as well as the money owed.

He also said that other developers have been inquiring about potentially buying real estate in the community.

At Thursday night’s meeting, McClintock also said that reconstruction of the Osborne Road Bridge could start over the winter or next summer once some design aspects are finalized. Construction is estimated to take 2-3 months.

During citizen comment, Donna Urban asked questions regarding how the township handled the discovery of heroin at Caln Elementary. She also said that she would like to see similar issues handled differently in the future.

Urban said that she spoke with Caln Police Chief Joseph Elias who told her that Caln Police do not become involved in Coatesville Area School District issues unless the district asks for their involvement. Urban said that knowing the severity of the situation, the police should have asked to get involved.

Board President John Contento said that he also thinks that Caln Police should have been involved earlier but said that the fault was not theirs.

“Nowhere at any time was there any assertion or implication that the Caln Township did anything incorrectly,” he said of the results of the CASD investigation. “Similar incidents, when they occur, we want to be involved.”

Urban said that she was not making accusations but would like to see things handled differently in the future. In particular, she pointed out a stipulation that was previously in the District’s memorandum of understanding with Caln Police that said that the township’s police department would decide when to become involved in district matters. However, in last year’s iteration of that understanding, the stipulation was removed. Urban said that she did not understand why they would remove it.

Contento said that the commissioners held a meeting with the district to figure out how to handle these situations in the future.